For the spring break me and my friend decided to drive to Texas. It was a long ride - around 849 miles one way. When we were approaching Texas it was already very dark. We were low on gas and were looking for an exit with gas. Almost at the very western end of Louisiana there was something looking like a city. And map also indicated exits 24, 23 and so on. We were happy - finally... GAS! That city looked gorgeous - a lot of lights, some tall buildings. It looked more like a city decorated for Christmas than a regular city - all the lights were the same color. The first weird thing, there were no any signs of any food or gas stations available at those exits.
Once we got closer we could not see any billboards or displays with well-known brands or anything of that kind (that was the second weird thing). So our supposedly city turned out to be an industrial region with lots of chemical plants. That's it! No gas stations, no food places - just factories. Looks so great from a distance.
So if back home you see a lot of light approaching some exists you can be 100% sure you are approaching a city or a town. When you see the same here, you cannot be that certain. When there are no billboards, and shiny "markers" of fast food places, gas stations - this is not a city. And you should not be surprised that all the lights are on... it the USA. It's a culture here to leave all the lights on. (Back home there would not be a lot of outdoor lightning, only lights to indicate heights of the plant for the planes and few others outdoor lights).
So... look for McDonald's, Exxon, BP, KFC or something of that kind to determine if you are approaching a city.
Friday, March 14, 2008
Tuesday, February 26, 2008
appealing to the general audience
I've been on a ski trip a month ago. We stayed at some hotel, which turned out to be not bad. It was even nice. As in every hotel there was a Bible on the table. Ok. I'm used to it now. This is not a post communist country with no religion, people do really go to church here and do read the Bible.
But than the first thing you wee when you turn on the TV some ads of hot local girls and it also referred to some paid porn channels (and I'm pretty much sure, that if only one percent of visitors cared for that - they would not advertise that... the public for that is probably much bigger).
I'm sure - having people watching paid channels is profitable and it does not hurt to advertise that, but it is just so inconsistent with idea of the Bible on the table.
Basically, this hotel room provided you with two messages (at the first glance) - Bible or Hot girls(and of course you can watch just regular channels. But once you turn the TV off and then on again - hot girls are right there). Pretty tough choice, isn't it?
It was a bit shocking for me since these two things could not go together in my mind.
But than the first thing you wee when you turn on the TV some ads of hot local girls and it also referred to some paid porn channels (and I'm pretty much sure, that if only one percent of visitors cared for that - they would not advertise that... the public for that is probably much bigger).
I'm sure - having people watching paid channels is profitable and it does not hurt to advertise that, but it is just so inconsistent with idea of the Bible on the table.
Basically, this hotel room provided you with two messages (at the first glance) - Bible or Hot girls(and of course you can watch just regular channels. But once you turn the TV off and then on again - hot girls are right there). Pretty tough choice, isn't it?
It was a bit shocking for me since these two things could not go together in my mind.
money vs. education
We've been discussing show concepts for TV today in class. Our goal was to 1) generate profit with a show and 2) provide educational value to the audience. Well, it is difficult to have both profit and educational content at the same time. That's why professor said that all managers do not pursue two goals at the same time, but choose just one.
Interesting. Isn't there really a way to achieve two goals at the same time? I'm sure there is. I guess level of competition is what matters. When there a lot of substitutes available educational shows may not attract huge number of eyeballs and won't provide big revenues from ads. But, when competition due to some reasons is limited, even educational content will receive a lot of support form advertisers, since the audience is large enough.
Maybe that's why some media critics say that German model of TV (with not millions of TV channels, but just a few) is more attractive for both government, who are taking care of educating its citizens, and advertisers, who do not have to make a difficult choice between the media outlets and don't have to have multiple presence over many platforms to reach all of the segments of its target audience.
Interesting. Isn't there really a way to achieve two goals at the same time? I'm sure there is. I guess level of competition is what matters. When there a lot of substitutes available educational shows may not attract huge number of eyeballs and won't provide big revenues from ads. But, when competition due to some reasons is limited, even educational content will receive a lot of support form advertisers, since the audience is large enough.
Maybe that's why some media critics say that German model of TV (with not millions of TV channels, but just a few) is more attractive for both government, who are taking care of educating its citizens, and advertisers, who do not have to make a difficult choice between the media outlets and don't have to have multiple presence over many platforms to reach all of the segments of its target audience.
Monday, February 25, 2008
second birthday
My mom told me "Happy Birthday" tonight on skype. I was shocked! My birthday is in December, my name day is also in December. I had few really weird ideas in my head. Turned out that we have a tradition of celebrating the day when you've escaped a great danger that could have been lethal for you.
6 years ago on 26th (back home it's already 26th) I was in a situation like this. Still alive and enjoying my life.
I guess this is like a day of appreciation of life.
Well, happy 6th birthday to me!
6 years ago on 26th (back home it's already 26th) I was in a situation like this. Still alive and enjoying my life.
I guess this is like a day of appreciation of life.
Well, happy 6th birthday to me!
money
After spending quite a long period in the States I may say that a lot of things here are about money and bottom line. That's something you should not mess with, that's something you do not discuss, but it is very important. People even measure success in dollars. There are a lot of things about money.
Today I saw an interesting ad on one of the website from back home. The main message was "money is not that important." A totally different perspective.
Even when you talk to people about their dreams they may say, as one of my friend did, that they want a lot of money. Fine. People back home say that want this, that and that, not money, but value/satisfaction/pleasure that you may get for money.
Yes the majority of us want to be able to afford lives we dream of, but we word it so differently. :)
Today I saw an interesting ad on one of the website from back home. The main message was "money is not that important." A totally different perspective.
Even when you talk to people about their dreams they may say, as one of my friend did, that they want a lot of money. Fine. People back home say that want this, that and that, not money, but value/satisfaction/pleasure that you may get for money.
Yes the majority of us want to be able to afford lives we dream of, but we word it so differently. :)
Sunday, February 24, 2008
where to study
As part of my internship I looked through several web sites of colleges and universities. On some pages I’ve seen quotes from current students about reasons for choosing this particular school. Some of them were talking about sports (good woman’s football team, horseback riding, rodeo facilities, softball teams, etc), for environment and student life (small classes, friendly staff, student facilities, etc). Great! What about education? Haven’t found any talking about how good education is in this school.
When I was thinking about what university to go for undergrad I’ve looked through ranks of universities and quality of education. I’ve chosen one of the best in the country.
And my question was “where to STUDY?” not “what SCHOOL to go?” It never was about facilities, sports or environment. The only factor that affected my choice was quality of education I would get.
yellow 5
More than 2 weeks later my nails on my left hand are still yellow after cutting pickles... thanks to YELLOW 5 - such an important ingredient for pickles. :))
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